Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence the same event/phenomenon in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.
Feedback is also a synonym for:
Feedback signal; the information about the initial event that is the basis for subsequent modification of the event.
Feedback loop; the causal path that leads from the initial generation of the feedback signal to the subsequent modification of the event.
Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. Intuitively many systems have an obvious input and output; feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback; feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback.
In more general terms, a control system has input from an external signal source and output to an external load; this defines a natural sense (or direction) or path of propagation of signal; the feedforward sense or path describes the signal propagation from input to output; feedback describes signal propagation in the reverse sense. When a sample of the output of the system is fed back, in the reverse sense, by a distinct feedback path into the interior of the system, to contribute to the input of one of its internal feedforward components, especially an active device or a substance that is consumed in an irreversible reaction, it is called the "feedback". The propagation of the signal around the feedback loop takes a finite time because it is causal.
The natural sense of feedforward is defined chemically by some irreversible reaction, or electronically by an active circuit element that has access to an auxiliary power supply, so as to be able to provide power gain to amplify the signal as it propagates from input to output. For example, an amplifier can use power from its controlled power reservoir, such as its battery, to provide power gain to amplify the signal; but the reverse is not possible: the signal cannot provide power to re-charge the battery of the amplifier.
Feedforward, feedback and regulation are self related. The feedforward carries the signal from source to load.
Negative feedback helps to maintain stability in a system in spite of external changes. It is related to homeostasis. For example, in a population of foxes (predators) and rabbits (prey), an increase in the number of foxes will cause a reduction in the number of rabbits; the smaller rabbit population will sustain fewer foxes, and the fox population will fall back. In an electronic amplifier feeding back a negative copy of the output to the input will tend to cancel distortion, making the output a more accurate replica of the input signal.
Positive feedback amplifies possibilities of divergences (evolution, change of goals); it is the condition to change, evolution, growth; it gives the system the ability to access new points of equilibrium.
For example, in an organism, most positive feedback provide for fast autoexcitation of elements of endocrine and nervous systems (in particular, in stress responses conditions) and are believed to play a key role in morphogenesis, growth, and development of organs, all processes which are in essence a rapid escape from the initial state.[citation needed] Homeostasis is especially visible in the nervous and endocrine systems when considered at organism level. Chemical potential energy for irreversible reactions or electrical potential energy for irreversible cell-membrane current powers the feedforward sense of the process. However, in the case of morphogenesis, feedback may only be enough to explain the increase in momemtum of the system, and may not be sufficient in itself to account for the movement or direction of its parts.
When a public-address system is used with a microphone to amplify speech, the output from a random sound at the microphone may produce sound at a loudspeaker which reaches the microphone such as to reinforce and amplify the original signal (positive feedback), building up to a howl (of frequency dependent upon the acoustics of the hall). A similar process is used deliberately to produce oscillating electrical signals.
Feedback is distinctly different from reinforcement that occurs in learning, or in conditioned reflexes. Feedback combines immediately with the immediate input signal to drive the responsive power gain element, without changing the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals. Reinforcement changes the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals, without combining with the immediate input signal. Reinforcement is a permanent change in the responsiveness of the system to all future signals. Feedback is only transient, being limited by the duration of the immediate signal.
Types of feedback
Figure 1: Ideal feedback model. The feedback is negative if B < 0Main articles: Negative feedback and positive feedback
When feedback acts in response to an event/phenomenon, it can influence the input signal in one of two ways:
1 - the feedback signal can amplify the input signal, leading to more modification. This is known as positive feedback.
2 - the feedback signal dampen the effect of the input signal, leading to less modification. This is known as negative feedback.
Note that an increase or decrease of the feedback signal here refers to the magnitude relative to the input signal's absolute value, without regard to the polarity or sign of the feedback signal. For example if the input signal changes by 100 then a change in feedback signal value from +5 to +10 is a positive feedback. If the input signal changes by -100 then a change in the feedback signal from -5 to -10 is also a positive feedback.
Positive feedback seeks to increase the event that caused it, such as in a nuclear chain-reaction. It is also known as a self-reinforcing loop.[1] An event influenced by positive feedback can increase or decrease its output/activation until it hits a limiting constraint. Such a constraint may be destructive, as in thermal runaway or a nuclear chain reaction. Self-reinforcing loops can be a smaller part of a larger balancing loop, especially in biological systems such as regulatory circuits. Negative feedback, which seeks to reduce the input signal that caused it, is also known as a self-correcting or balancing loop.[1] Such loops tend to be goal-seeking, as in a thermostat which compares actual temperature with desired temperature and seeks to reduce the difference. Balancing loops are sometimes prone to hunting: an oscillation caused by an excessive or delayed negative feedback signal, resulting in over-correction where effectively the signal becomes a positive feedback.
The terms negative and positive feedback can be used loosely or colloquially to describe or imply criticism and praise, respectively. This may lead to confusion with the more technically accurate terms positive and negative reinforcement, which refer to something that changes the likelihood of a future behaviour. Moreover, when used technically, negative feedback leads to stability which is generally considered good, whereas positive feedback can lead to unstable and explosive situations which is considered bad. Thus when used colloquially these terms imply the opposite desirability to that when used technically. Negative feedback was applied by Harold Stephen Black to electrical amplifiers in 1927, but he could not get his idea patented until 1937.[2] Arturo Rosenblueth, a Mexican researcher and physician, co-authored a seminal 1943 paper Behavior, Purpose and Teleology[3] that, according to Norbert Wiener (another co-author of the paper), set the basis for the new science cybernetics. Rosenblueth proposed that behaviour controlled by negative feedback, whether in animal, human or machine, was a determinative, directive principle in nature and human creations.[citation needed]. This kind of feedback is studied in cybernetics and control theory.
1. The principles of providing feedback to students
2. A listing of practical feedback methods for both coursework and exams
3. Suggestions for cutting back on marking and feedback work load
4. The main points of Bath’s Quality Assurance expectations regarding assessment
feedback to students
5. References for further information
1. The principles of providing assessment feedback to students The role of feedback in the learning process, is to inform the student of where and
how their learning and performance can be improved. Feedback on learning can
come from fellow students, lecturers, staff supporting the learning process such as
demonstrators, or the student themselves.
Although feedback to students is often thought of as being given in response to
assessment, there are may forms of feedback on learning, which do not relate to
assessment at all, ranging from feedback on work in progress (eg during lab work) to
more generic feedback on effective a student is performing their studies overall (end
of year study advice). This paper, however, concentrates on providing feedback on
assessment, both coursework and exams.
Feedback on assessment can be given to sum up the final judgement of the quality
of the students work (summative feedback), or to help the student improve their
work in future (formative feedback). A further, but in HE less common form of
feedback helps the student identify their aptitude and ability for a particular kind of
learning (diagnostic feedback). A highly individualised form of feedback sometimes
used in (performing) arts, sports, design and professional disciplines takes into
account the students’ previous developments, and uses this as the starting point for
assessing progress or improvement of skills, knowledge and competence (ipsative
feedback).
Considering best practice of providing feedback to students, the following values
apply:
Feedback is best provided as soon as possible after the assessment took place,
so that the learning from feedback can still be connected to the assessment
content.
Feedback should be critical, but supportive to learning, so as to encourage a
student’s confident scrutiny of their future work.
Feedback should –where possible- be directly related to learning outcomes and
given assessment criteria, so that students are very clear on what was and will be
expected of them.
Feedback on work should go beyond editing (grammar, spelling, mathematical
notation, presentation) and link to the broader learning outcomes, unless of
course, these are included in the learning outcomes. Common editing type
feedback can be given through usage of a feedback tick list (see below)
Feedback should be given with care and attention to standards of respect for
diversity and individuality, and should rarely be directed at the student, but rather
at their work.
Feedback is most likely to have an effect if students are fully aware that what
they encounter is meant as feedback, and that they should take not of it in order
to improve their learning.
2. A listing of practical feedback methods The most common forms we tend to use in Higher Education for giving feedback is
written feedback on students’ individual work, or verbal feedback either to individuals
or groups of students. But work load pressure, innovative means of assessment,
direct student demands and a range of other pressures, can lead to a need to use
less traditional modes of feedback.
Providing generic feedback in lectures or workshops: feedback is given on what
the majority of students seem to be struggling with, without reference to individual
assessments.
Self assessment : allow students to provide an initial self assessment at the end
of their assessed work, according to a set grid or checklist of assessment criteria.
This helps students in the fastest possible manner, to have an indication of the
quality of their achievement.
Student steered feedback : the student is asked at the end of their assessment
to put forward a request for feedback on a particular part of their learning. This is
one of the strongest means to make a student evaluate their own progress, and
allows the assessor to target a student’s concerns most precisely.
Feedback statement banks : collate a structured listing of carefully phrased
feedback remarks you most often use for a particular assessment. You can then
use it alongside your marking for each piece of assessed work. When marking,
simply cross reference to the relevant feedback comment, or use a fixed coding
system and give the student the marked up feedback statement list along with the
marked work. Ideally, your feedback statement listing also leaves space for
individual feedback.
Introducing feedback statement banks are a prime opportunity to improve the
quality of feedback, by commenting on how improvements can be made
regarding the issue for which the student is being marked down.
Electronic feedback
can combine the benefit of speedy feedback returns, with
the advantages using feedback statement banks, which list standard feedback
given to common mistakes (tackling repeated feedback on, say, grammar
problems or notational mistakes)
Class marking : collate parts of actual student work, to let students themselves
mark and provide feedback on an assessment they have in fact, all handed in.
Question by question, the collated work could for instance consist of an example
of a great answer, and an example of problematic answer to the same question.
Peer marking and feedback : provide clear assessment criteria and possibly
model answers to students, and ask students to mark each other’s (anonymous)
work and provide full written feedback. This not only helps the person receiving
the feedback, but also moves the learning from the assessing student, to a higher
level. Be prepared to find that students mark each other much ‘tougher’ than you
might ever consider, so do remind them of the need to mark the work, not the
student and to be respectful and careful of each other.
Individual verbal feedback : most suitable for thesis type assessed work, such
as PhD progress feedback, or feedback on project work. In many ways, this is the
individual tutorial on which University learning once used to depend. Grouped needs-led feedback: students are grouped by their need for feedback
on particular content or learning. Feedback is then delivered to those students
who all struggled with the same problems as a group. Students may find
themselves in more groups than one, and may self select or be selected for
particular groups. This method is particularly suitable for feedback on complex
learning and content.
Marking schemes: using a checklist of assessment criteria, onto which the
feedback to students is written, allows students to receive their feedback in a very
structured manner. A blank comment box should always be added to marking
scheme forms, so as to allow for individual feedback where needed.
Co-grading: one of the best kinds of feedback and the most direct form possible.
The student and the assessor mark the work together, so that feedback and
explanation of marking decisions are given immediately. In Arts subjects, the
assessment method of the ‘Critique’ is often used, which –if verbal- can take the
form of co-grading.
On line feedback conferences: by providing a generic form of feedback online
(a number of options are mentioned above), student can be enabled to discuss
further solutions to the learning problems they have encountered. The
considerable advantage is that students can return to their peer feedback
discussions at a later stage. Such techniques work well when developing
intellectual discipline skills (programming, lab work, design drawing etc)
Which type of feedback is chosen, depends on a number of factors.
Some types of feedback fit better with specific types of assessment than others.
Peer, self, grouped needs feedback, co-marking and class marking are likely to be
more appropriate for formative assessments, whilst marking schemes, feedback
statement banks and individual verbal feedback are more commonly –but not
exclusively- associated with summative feedback.
Often there is value in using different feedback (or indeed assessment-) methods
throughout the learning experience of a student. It may benefit the student to
consider the improvement of their learning from different angles, provided by different
forms of feedback.
Another factor is workload of students and staff, and some approaches to deal with
that aspect are set out below.
3. Suggestions for cutting back on marking and feedback work load Provide a set of model answers, annotated with comments on why these
answers are excellent, and comments on common mistakes made. Refer to these
in individual feedback you provide to students.
Use feedback statement banks or reports
Introduce marking schemes (see above) or assignment return sheets, as they
are sometimes called. Assessors will be front loading some of the work by having
to make the marking scheme, but saving much precious time when marking to a
deadline. Combined with the use of a feedback statement bank, this can speed
up marking and feedback provision tremendously, but this carries the risk of
impersonal feedback.
Use in-class feedback to the whole group of students, thereby providing
feedback on common problems. This should only be used for part of a unit or
programme’s overall assessment.
Consider the use peer (marking and) feedback The regulations permit you to use graduate teaching assistants to have a role
in assessment in year 1. There are no restrictions in using them to provide
feedback to students in any year.
Allow students to self-mark parts of early ‘in flight’ (formative) assessments,
but inform the student in advance that you will sample-mark some of the
assessments. You will find that students are likely to be more strict with
themselves than you might be.
Self assessing during a summative assessment: using the principles of self
assessment, you invite students to self assess their work before handing it in.
You will then still need to assess the work, but you will find it works a lot faster,
whilst student have already benefited from direct feedback and reflection
Work with colleagues on introducing Bath’s Personal Development Planning
system, to support students self-assessing their overall learning progress.
Contact the University of Bath’s E-Learning team, who may be able to help you
set up electronic assessment and feedback mechanisms.
Clearly, with all these suggestions, a balance needs to be considered between
saving time so as to work within deadlines, and maintaining the quality of feedback
given to students.
4. The main points of Bath’s Quality Assurance expectations regarding
assessment feedback to students i.e. the mandatory standards for feedbackThe agreements on providing feedback include the expectation of feedback being
prompt: feedback should be provided within three weeks on student work submitted
on time.
The feedback method should be consistent with the nature of the assessed work.
Feedback should relate to the assessment criteria, but also relate to generic skills
development and general academic standards.
Where group work is being assessed, particular rules apply regarding marking and
providing feedback, reflecting the need for individual grading and learning from
feedback.
Formal written feedback (often the student transcript) should be supported by the
opportunity to discuss performance with a Personal Tutor.
Students should receive periodic feedback on their overall performance (across and
beyond units)
5. References for further information Brown, S., Rust, C., & Gibbs, G. (1994) Strategies for diversifying assessment in
higher education, Oxford, Oxford Centre for Staff Development
Rust, C., Price, M. and O’Donovan, B. (2003). Improving students’ learning by
developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes. Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education. 28 (2), 147-164.
Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems.
What is the importance of feedback?
"Writing should almost always be a communication between writer and reader, and therefore feedback is the best way to sample how that communication is developing. Again, it fascinates me that academic researchers can be so rigorous in their methodological design at the outset of a project and yet they rarely do any sophisticated research on how their writing impacts on the reader, or which facets of academic writing work best for the reader. I mean, even politicians have opinion polls. Feedback is your opportunity for an opinion poll, but feedback needs a lot of thought as it is dealing with subjective opinions, motivation and emotion."
"With policy report writing it's very much a case of thinking about what you want the reader to get out of it. What does the reader come to this piece of work for? That's always a good starting point is to think through two or three main reasons why the reader is coming to your work, and then you can almost forget about those when you get really involved, but you need to have thought about that in order to come back to that later, to structure things in a way that is going to relevant to the reader."
"I'm involved in the feedback process a huge amount of time because I have a lot of staff whose writing I read and whose writing I rewrite and because I do a lot of joint writing with people who are by and large less experienced than me. In terms of my own writing I always try to get feedback on what I write. What I tend to get is feedback on substance rather than style, and I appreciate that. I particularly value feedback on style but I don't get it very often these days. I certainly send out my material quite widely if I've got time. It's practical constraints that tend to limit it, and practical constraints in the sense that it depends on what space there is between the draft and having to deliver something."
"The other reason you need feedback is because you get so close to your own writing. Its the can't-see-the-wood-for-the-trees thing again. I remember reading about a novelist who calculated that he had read one of his novels about ninety times in the process of developing it from an original draft to a final bound version. It must be difficult to come at it from a first-time reader's perspective on the seventy-fifth reading or whatever."
"It's very difficult, I think, to distance yourself from your own writing. Simply seeing something through someone else's eyes is hugely valuable for reflecting on what you're doing because everyone will see it differently. And that's true at any stage of your career. It's like the author who published a 600-page word novel which had a great 150-page novel buried in it but nobody had the balls to tell them because apparently the author's too important now."
Feedback on Assessment: Developing a Practitioner Handbook
Introduction
This paper is a continuation of the research carried out within six West Midlands Colleges into professional practice in feedback on assessment work on sub-degree (mainly HND) courses of higher education, in Further Education Colleges. The first part of this research has already been published on education-line, see Hammond (2002). As a result of that research, the Colleges consortium in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton Collaborative Learning and Teaching Strategy group, were able to access further funding from HECFE, with a view to undertaking research to produce a handbook on good practice for academic staff, written by academic staff. Having considered the methodology, and the application of the handbook, the remainder of this paper is taken up with the conference data collection tool, and handbook itself, as this contains the research data collected during the project.
Methodology
In producing this research, the researcher sought to place the research within the reflective practitioner paradigm described by Donald Schon [Schon (1987)]. Staff from a number of FE Colleges in the West-Midlands were invited to a half- day working conference, where they were encouraged to reflect on their practice within small mixed College groups using a pre-prepared question sheet, prepared by the researcher on what they felt was the purpose of feedback, and what constituted good practice when feeding back on assessment to students. The practitioners were also asked to consider how various methods of feedback might be used, for example written, oral, electronic etc. As part of the design of the handbook, an appendix of all contributions made by practitioner groups and individuals was included, to enable staff using the handbook to be able to reflect on what was said, beyond the main edited text of the handbook. This allowed practitioners to stimulate further thinking on the subject, without the encumbrance of the researchers editing and interpretation of the data if they wished. The researcher couched the language of the handbook in a none academic format, while at the same time seeking not to be patronising, with a view to facilitating maximum use by practitioners of the handbook for whom it was designed rather than a purely academic audience.
Application of the Handbook
The handbook has been used extensively in one FE College, as part of the City and Guilds London Institute 7307 teacher-training course, where it has been well received. The handbook has also been given out to academic staff for reference purposes in other Colleges, in the way that was intended by the researcher and management in the Colleges, when the research commenced.
References
Hammond. M.J. (2002) Undertaking Action Research on Assessment Feedback within a Group of West Midlands Further Education Colleges Education-line Leeds, University of Leeds.
Schon, D. (1987) Education the Reflective Practitioner San-Francisco, Jossey-Bass
Conference Data Collection Tool
Assessment Feedback Conference Participant Question Sheet
Participant Guidelines
Thank you for attending this part of the conference. This is the most important part of the work that we are doing today. The purpose of this session, is to allow practitioners to come together and to debate the issues surrounding assessment feedback and what it is, and what is good feedback, and what is not so good feedback? Once the data from this session has been collated, it will be processed and edited into the form of a guide for staff to use within all the participant Colleges.
Participants should note that these sessions are carried out in strict accordance with the rules of academic freedom. The conference leaders and delegates will treat all data in strict confidence, and no data from this session should be divulged outside the session. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
You have been placed in small groups, with a view to arriving at the answers to the questions below. Time is very tight, and therefore it would be useful if you could develop some debate on the questions as set before engaging on other issues of interest to the group. A member of each group will be asked to feed back at the end of the session on one key point. Flipcharts and pens etc will be provided for use in this exercise.
Questions/Issue Written Feedback
What do you think should be contained in good written feedback?
Oral Feedback
Do you think that oral feedback is a useful tool in feedback?
If so, what should oral feedback contain?
How do you think oral feedback, could be backed up in other ways?
Electronic Feedback
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of electronic feedback, and how could it be developed?
If so, what would they contain?
Feedback through Self Assessment/Peer Assessment
What constitutes good feedback, in self-assessment?
What constitutes good feedback, in peer assessment?
Timing of Feedback
How important is timing in feedback?
How would you define good timing in feedback?
General
What other issues not covered in the questions is important in producing good feedback?
Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence the same event/phenomenon in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.
Feedback is also a synonym for:
Overview
Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. Intuitively many systems have an obvious input and output; feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback; feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback.In more general terms, a control system has input from an external signal source and output to an external load; this defines a natural sense (or direction) or path of propagation of signal; the feedforward sense or path describes the signal propagation from input to output; feedback describes signal propagation in the reverse sense. When a sample of the output of the system is fed back, in the reverse sense, by a distinct feedback path into the interior of the system, to contribute to the input of one of its internal feedforward components, especially an active device or a substance that is consumed in an irreversible reaction, it is called the "feedback". The propagation of the signal around the feedback loop takes a finite time because it is causal.
The natural sense of feedforward is defined chemically by some irreversible reaction, or electronically by an active circuit element that has access to an auxiliary power supply, so as to be able to provide power gain to amplify the signal as it propagates from input to output. For example, an amplifier can use power from its controlled power reservoir, such as its battery, to provide power gain to amplify the signal; but the reverse is not possible: the signal cannot provide power to re-charge the battery of the amplifier.
Feedforward, feedback and regulation are self related. The feedforward carries the signal from source to load.
Negative feedback helps to maintain stability in a system in spite of external changes. It is related to homeostasis. For example, in a population of foxes (predators) and rabbits (prey), an increase in the number of foxes will cause a reduction in the number of rabbits; the smaller rabbit population will sustain fewer foxes, and the fox population will fall back. In an electronic amplifier feeding back a negative copy of the output to the input will tend to cancel distortion, making the output a more accurate replica of the input signal.
Positive feedback amplifies possibilities of divergences (evolution, change of goals); it is the condition to change, evolution, growth; it gives the system the ability to access new points of equilibrium.
For example, in an organism, most positive feedback provide for fast autoexcitation of elements of endocrine and nervous systems (in particular, in stress responses conditions) and are believed to play a key role in morphogenesis, growth, and development of organs, all processes which are in essence a rapid escape from the initial state.[citation needed] Homeostasis is especially visible in the nervous and endocrine systems when considered at organism level. Chemical potential energy for irreversible reactions or electrical potential energy for irreversible cell-membrane current powers the feedforward sense of the process. However, in the case of morphogenesis, feedback may only be enough to explain the increase in momemtum of the system, and may not be sufficient in itself to account for the movement or direction of its parts.
When a public-address system is used with a microphone to amplify speech, the output from a random sound at the microphone may produce sound at a loudspeaker which reaches the microphone such as to reinforce and amplify the original signal (positive feedback), building up to a howl (of frequency dependent upon the acoustics of the hall). A similar process is used deliberately to produce oscillating electrical signals.
Feedback is distinctly different from reinforcement that occurs in learning, or in conditioned reflexes. Feedback combines immediately with the immediate input signal to drive the responsive power gain element, without changing the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals. Reinforcement changes the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals, without combining with the immediate input signal. Reinforcement is a permanent change in the responsiveness of the system to all future signals. Feedback is only transient, being limited by the duration of the immediate signal.
Types of feedback
When feedback acts in response to an event/phenomenon, it can influence the input signal in one of two ways:
- 1 - the feedback signal can amplify the input signal, leading to more modification. This is known as positive feedback.
- 2 - the feedback signal dampen the effect of the input signal, leading to less modification. This is known as negative feedback.
- Note that an increase or decrease of the feedback signal here refers to the magnitude relative to the input signal's absolute value, without regard to the polarity or sign of the feedback signal. For example if the input signal changes by 100 then a change in feedback signal value from +5 to +10 is a positive feedback. If the input signal changes by -100 then a change in the feedback signal from -5 to -10 is also a positive feedback.
Positive feedback seeks to increase the event that caused it, such as in a nuclear chain-reaction. It is also known as a self-reinforcing loop.[1] An event influenced by positive feedback can increase or decrease its output/activation until it hits a limiting constraint. Such a constraint may be destructive, as in thermal runaway or a nuclear chain reaction. Self-reinforcing loops can be a smaller part of a larger balancing loop, especially in biological systems such as regulatory circuits.Negative feedback, which seeks to reduce the input signal that caused it, is also known as a self-correcting or balancing loop.[1] Such loops tend to be goal-seeking, as in a thermostat which compares actual temperature with desired temperature and seeks to reduce the difference. Balancing loops are sometimes prone to hunting: an oscillation caused by an excessive or delayed negative feedback signal, resulting in over-correction where effectively the signal becomes a positive feedback.
The terms negative and positive feedback can be used loosely or colloquially to describe or imply criticism and praise, respectively. This may lead to confusion with the more technically accurate terms positive and negative reinforcement, which refer to something that changes the likelihood of a future behaviour. Moreover, when used technically, negative feedback leads to stability which is generally considered good, whereas positive feedback can lead to unstable and explosive situations which is considered bad. Thus when used colloquially these terms imply the opposite desirability to that when used technically.
Negative feedback was applied by Harold Stephen Black to electrical amplifiers in 1927, but he could not get his idea patented until 1937.[2] Arturo Rosenblueth, a Mexican researcher and physician, co-authored a seminal 1943 paper Behavior, Purpose and Teleology[3] that, according to Norbert Wiener (another co-author of the paper), set the basis for the new science cybernetics. Rosenblueth proposed that behaviour controlled by negative feedback, whether in animal, human or machine, was a determinative, directive principle in nature and human creations.[citation needed]. This kind of feedback is studied in cybernetics and control theory.
1. The principles of providing feedback to students
2. A listing of practical feedback methods for both coursework and exams
3. Suggestions for cutting back on marking and feedback work load
4. The main points of Bath’s Quality Assurance expectations regarding assessment
feedback to students
5. References for further information
1. The principles of providing assessment feedback to students
The role of feedback in the learning process, is to inform the student of where and
how their learning and performance can be improved. Feedback on learning can
come from fellow students, lecturers, staff supporting the learning process such as
demonstrators, or the student themselves.
Although feedback to students is often thought of as being given in response to
assessment, there are may forms of feedback on learning, which do not relate to
assessment at all, ranging from feedback on work in progress (eg during lab work) to
more generic feedback on effective a student is performing their studies overall (end
of year study advice). This paper, however, concentrates on providing feedback on
assessment, both coursework and exams.
Feedback on assessment can be given to sum up the final judgement of the quality
of the students work (summative feedback), or to help the student improve their
work in future (formative feedback). A further, but in HE less common form of
feedback helps the student identify their aptitude and ability for a particular kind of
learning (diagnostic feedback). A highly individualised form of feedback sometimes
used in (performing) arts, sports, design and professional disciplines takes into
account the students’ previous developments, and uses this as the starting point for
assessing progress or improvement of skills, knowledge and competence (ipsative
feedback).
Considering best practice of providing feedback to students, the following values
apply:
Feedback is best provided as soon as possible after the assessment took place,
so that the learning from feedback can still be connected to the assessment
content.
Feedback should be critical, but supportive to learning, so as to encourage a
student’s confident scrutiny of their future work.
Feedback should –where possible- be directly related to learning outcomes and
given assessment criteria, so that students are very clear on what was and will be
expected of them.
Feedback on work should go beyond editing (grammar, spelling, mathematical
notation, presentation) and link to the broader learning outcomes, unless of
course, these are included in the learning outcomes. Common editing type
feedback can be given through usage of a feedback tick list (see below)
Feedback should be given with care and attention to standards of respect for
diversity and individuality, and should rarely be directed at the student, but rather
at their work.
Feedback is most likely to have an effect if students are fully aware that what
they encounter is meant as feedback, and that they should take not of it in order
to improve their learning.
2. A listing of practical feedback methods
The most common forms we tend to use in Higher Education for giving feedback is
written feedback on students’ individual work, or verbal feedback either to individuals
or groups of students. But work load pressure, innovative means of assessment,
direct student demands and a range of other pressures, can lead to a need to use
less traditional modes of feedback.
Providing generic feedback
in lectures or workshops: feedback is given on what
the majority of students seem to be struggling with, without reference to individual
assessments.
Self assessment
: allow students to provide an initial self assessment at the end
of their assessed work, according to a set grid or checklist of assessment criteria.
This helps students in the fastest possible manner, to have an indication of the
quality of their achievement.
Student steered feedback
: the student is asked at the end of their assessment
to put forward a request for feedback on a particular part of their learning. This is
one of the strongest means to make a student evaluate their own progress, and
allows the assessor to target a student’s concerns most precisely.
Feedback statement banks
: collate a structured listing of carefully phrased
feedback remarks you most often use for a particular assessment. You can then
use it alongside your marking for each piece of assessed work. When marking,
simply cross reference to the relevant feedback comment, or use a fixed coding
system and give the student the marked up feedback statement list along with the
marked work. Ideally, your feedback statement listing also leaves space for
individual feedback.
Introducing feedback statement banks are a prime opportunity to improve the
quality of feedback, by commenting on how improvements can be made
regarding the issue for which the student is being marked down.
Electronic feedback
can combine the benefit of speedy feedback returns, withthe advantages using feedback statement banks, which list standard feedback
given to common mistakes (tackling repeated feedback on, say, grammar
problems or notational mistakes)
Class marking
: collate parts of actual student work, to let students themselves
mark and provide feedback on an assessment they have in fact, all handed in.
Question by question, the collated work could for instance consist of an example
of a great answer, and an example of problematic answer to the same question.
Peer marking and feedback
: provide clear assessment criteria and possibly
model answers to students, and ask students to mark each other’s (anonymous)
work and provide full written feedback. This not only helps the person receiving
the feedback, but also moves the learning from the assessing student, to a higher
level. Be prepared to find that students mark each other much ‘tougher’ than you
might ever consider, so do remind them of the need to mark the work, not the
student and to be respectful and careful of each other.
Individual verbal feedback
: most suitable for thesis type assessed work, such
as PhD progress feedback, or feedback on project work. In many ways, this is the
individual tutorial on which University learning once used to depend.
Grouped needs-led feedback: students are grouped by their need for feedback
on particular content or learning. Feedback is then delivered to those students
who all struggled with the same problems as a group. Students may find
themselves in more groups than one, and may self select or be selected for
particular groups. This method is particularly suitable for feedback on complex
learning and content.
Marking schemes: using a checklist of assessment criteria, onto which the
feedback to students is written, allows students to receive their feedback in a very
structured manner. A blank comment box should always be added to marking
scheme forms, so as to allow for individual feedback where needed.
Co-grading: one of the best kinds of feedback and the most direct form possible.
The student and the assessor mark the work together, so that feedback and
explanation of marking decisions are given immediately. In Arts subjects, the
assessment method of the ‘Critique’ is often used, which –if verbal- can take the
form of co-grading.
On line feedback conferences: by providing a generic form of feedback online
(a number of options are mentioned above), student can be enabled to discuss
further solutions to the learning problems they have encountered. The
considerable advantage is that students can return to their peer feedback
discussions at a later stage. Such techniques work well when developing
intellectual discipline skills (programming, lab work, design drawing etc)
Which type of feedback is chosen, depends on a number of factors.
Some types of feedback fit better with specific types of assessment than others.
Peer, self, grouped needs feedback, co-marking and class marking are likely to be
more appropriate for formative assessments, whilst marking schemes, feedback
statement banks and individual verbal feedback are more commonly –but not
exclusively- associated with summative feedback.
Often there is value in using different feedback (or indeed assessment-) methods
throughout the learning experience of a student. It may benefit the student to
consider the improvement of their learning from different angles, provided by different
forms of feedback.
Another factor is workload of students and staff, and some approaches to deal with
that aspect are set out below.
3. Suggestions for cutting back on marking and feedback work load
Provide a set of model answers, annotated with comments on why these
answers are excellent, and comments on common mistakes made. Refer to these
in individual feedback you provide to students.
Use feedback statement banks or reports
Introduce marking schemes (see above) or assignment return sheets, as they
are sometimes called. Assessors will be front loading some of the work by having
to make the marking scheme, but saving much precious time when marking to a
deadline. Combined with the use of a feedback statement bank, this can speed
up marking and feedback provision tremendously, but this carries the risk of
impersonal feedback.
Use in-class feedback to the whole group of students, thereby providing
feedback on common problems. This should only be used for part of a unit or
programme’s overall assessment.
Consider the use peer (marking and) feedback
The regulations permit you to use graduate teaching assistants to have a role
in assessment in year 1. There are no restrictions in using them to provide
feedback to students in any year.
Allow students to self-mark parts of early ‘in flight’ (formative) assessments,
but inform the student in advance that you will sample-mark some of the
assessments. You will find that students are likely to be more strict with
themselves than you might be.
Self assessing during a summative assessment: using the principles of self
assessment, you invite students to self assess their work before handing it in.
You will then still need to assess the work, but you will find it works a lot faster,
whilst student have already benefited from direct feedback and reflection
Work with colleagues on introducing Bath’s Personal Development Planning
system, to support students self-assessing their overall learning progress.
Contact the University of Bath’s E-Learning team, who may be able to help you
set up electronic assessment and feedback mechanisms.
Clearly, with all these suggestions, a balance needs to be considered between
saving time so as to work within deadlines, and maintaining the quality of feedback
given to students.
4. The main points of Bath’s Quality Assurance expectations regarding
assessment feedback to students i.e. the mandatory standards for feedbackThe agreements on providing feedback include the expectation of feedback being
prompt: feedback should be provided within three weeks on student work submitted
on time.
The feedback method should be consistent with the nature of the assessed work.
Feedback should relate to the assessment criteria, but also relate to generic skills
development and general academic standards.
Where group work is being assessed, particular rules apply regarding marking and
providing feedback, reflecting the need for individual grading and learning from
feedback.
Formal written feedback (often the student transcript) should be supported by the
opportunity to discuss performance with a Personal Tutor.
Students should receive periodic feedback on their overall performance (across and
beyond units)
5. References for further information
Brown, S., Rust, C., & Gibbs, G. (1994) Strategies for diversifying assessment in
higher education, Oxford, Oxford Centre for Staff Development
Rust, C., Price, M. and O’Donovan, B. (2003). Improving students’ learning by
developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes. Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education. 28 (2), 147-164.
Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems.
What is the importance of feedback?
"Writing should almost always be a communication between writer and reader, and therefore feedback is the best way to sample how that communication is developing. Again, it fascinates me that academic researchers can be so rigorous in their methodological design at the outset of a project and yet they rarely do any sophisticated research on how their writing impacts on the reader, or which facets of academic writing work best for the reader. I mean, even politicians have opinion polls. Feedback is your opportunity for an opinion poll, but feedback needs a lot of thought as it is dealing with subjective opinions, motivation and emotion.""With policy report writing it's very much a case of thinking about what you want the reader to get out of it. What does the reader come to this piece of work for? That's always a good starting point is to think through two or three main reasons why the reader is coming to your work, and then you can almost forget about those when you get really involved, but you need to have thought about that in order to come back to that later, to structure things in a way that is going to relevant to the reader."
"I'm involved in the feedback process a huge amount of time because I have a lot of staff whose writing I read and whose writing I rewrite and because I do a lot of joint writing with people who are by and large less experienced than me. In terms of my own writing I always try to get feedback on what I write. What I tend to get is feedback on substance rather than style, and I appreciate that. I particularly value feedback on style but I don't get it very often these days. I certainly send out my material quite widely if I've got time. It's practical constraints that tend to limit it, and practical constraints in the sense that it depends on what space there is between the draft and having to deliver something."
"The other reason you need feedback is because you get so close to your own writing. Its the can't-see-the-wood-for-the-trees thing again. I remember reading about a novelist who calculated that he had read one of his novels about ninety times in the process of developing it from an original draft to a final bound version. It must be difficult to come at it from a first-time reader's perspective on the seventy-fifth reading or whatever."
"It's very difficult, I think, to distance yourself from your own writing. Simply seeing something through someone else's eyes is hugely valuable for reflecting on what you're doing because everyone will see it differently. And that's true at any stage of your career. It's like the author who published a 600-page word novel which had a great 150-page novel buried in it but nobody had the balls to tell them because apparently the author's too important now."
Feedback on Assessment: Developing a Practitioner Handbook
Introduction
This paper is a continuation of the research carried out within six West Midlands Colleges into professional practice in feedback on assessment work on sub-degree (mainly HND) courses of higher education, in Further Education Colleges. The first part of this research has already been published on education-line, see Hammond (2002). As a result of that research, the Colleges consortium in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton Collaborative Learning and Teaching Strategy group, were able to access further funding from HECFE, with a view to undertaking research to produce a handbook on good practice for academic staff, written by academic staff. Having considered the methodology, and the application of the handbook, the remainder of this paper is taken up with the conference data collection tool, and handbook itself, as this contains the research data collected during the project.
Methodology
In producing this research, the researcher sought to place the research within the reflective practitioner paradigm described by Donald Schon [Schon (1987)]. Staff from a number of FE Colleges in the West-Midlands were invited to a half- day working conference, where they were encouraged to reflect on their practice within small mixed College groups using a pre-prepared question sheet, prepared by the researcher on what they felt was the purpose of feedback, and what constituted good practice when feeding back on assessment to students. The practitioners were also asked to consider how various methods of feedback might be used, for example written, oral, electronic etc. As part of the design of the handbook, an appendix of all contributions made by practitioner groups and individuals was included, to enable staff using the handbook to be able to reflect on what was said, beyond the main edited text of the handbook. This allowed practitioners to stimulate further thinking on the subject, without the encumbrance of the researchers editing and interpretation of the data if they wished. The researcher couched the language of the handbook in a none academic format, while at the same time seeking not to be patronising, with a view to facilitating maximum use by practitioners of the handbook for whom it was designed rather than a purely academic audience.
Application of the Handbook
The handbook has been used extensively in one FE College, as part of the City and Guilds London Institute 7307 teacher-training course, where it has been well received. The handbook has also been given out to academic staff for reference purposes in other Colleges, in the way that was intended by the researcher and management in the Colleges, when the research commenced.
References
Hammond. M.J. (2002) Undertaking Action Research on Assessment Feedback within a Group of West Midlands Further Education Colleges Education-line Leeds, University of Leeds.
Schon, D. (1987) Education the Reflective Practitioner San-Francisco, Jossey-Bass
Conference Data Collection Tool
Assessment Feedback Conference Participant Question Sheet
Participant Guidelines
Thank you for attending this part of the conference. This is the most important part of the work that we are doing today. The purpose of this session, is to allow practitioners to come together and to debate the issues surrounding assessment feedback and what it is, and what is good feedback, and what is not so good feedback? Once the data from this session has been collated, it will be processed and edited into the form of a guide for staff to use within all the participant Colleges.
Participants should note that these sessions are carried out in strict accordance with the rules of academic freedom. The conference leaders and delegates will treat all data in strict confidence, and no data from this session should be divulged outside the session. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
You have been placed in small groups, with a view to arriving at the answers to the questions below. Time is very tight, and therefore it would be useful if you could develop some debate on the questions as set before engaging on other issues of interest to the group. A member of each group will be asked to feed back at the end of the session on one key point. Flipcharts and pens etc will be provided for use in this exercise.
Questions/Issue
Written Feedback
Oral Feedback
Electronic Feedback
Feedback through Self Assessment/Peer Assessment
Timing of Feedback
General